Health & Fitness: Running For My Life

I admit feeling a bit cocky (and also very nervous) as I prepared for the July 4th Maplewood 5k. I ran my first 5k a mere two weeks ago at the Millburn President's Day Cup and clocked in at 35:08 minutes. I wanted to improve my pr on this race. That's "personal record," for those of you who don't know. Truth be told, I really, really wanted to get under 30 minutes.

A few days after I ran the Millburn 5k, a Maplewood friend emailed me to say she would run the Maplewood 5k route with me. She is an experienced runner, and I valued her advice. I believed that running the route ahead of time would give me an extra advantage. When I ran the Millburn 5k, I had no idea what the route was like. As I ran that race, I felt like it was never going to end. Based on that experience, I quickly jumped (or ran) at the opportunity to practice the route.

Not only did she show me the route, I ended up running the route with another local friend. While this friend is a more experienced runner than I, she had never ran the Maplewood 5k before. We ran the course and felt great. We made amazing time. I felt very proud. I ran the route a few times on my own as well.

As the guys at The Sneaker Factory in Millburn had recommended, I told my friends and neighbors that we should get to the race about an hour early. I had pre-registered a few weeks ago to make sure that I only paid $20 versus $25, but I needed to pick up my bib and also get my race t-shirt. One of the good things about running a local race was that I was able to drop off my check and registration at a local house on Prospect Avenue. In retrospect, I should have ran to the race registrar's house instead of driving. Next time.

Again, taking the advice of the gentleman who helped me at The Sneaker Factory, I set my alarm to wake up at 6 a.m. to have breakfast in order to give my body three hours to digest the meal before the race. I had one piece of multi-grain toast with peanut butter and jelly, along with a cup of coffee. I also drank water. I was ready!

Even though the weather had been gorgeous in the days leading up to the race, I knew it was going to be a hot and steamy July 4. My expectations were met. The temperature was in the high 80s by the time the race started at 9 a.m. I was very excited and ready to go. Note to self: don't get there so early. At least the port-a-potties were still clean.

Once the horn sounded, we were off. My family cheered and I proudly waved goodbye to my husband and two daughters in the sidelines. I then made mistake number one. I began to run very fast. Although I had heard from countless friends who warned me to watch my pace during a race, I could not help but want to sprint ahead as fast as I could.

A few things took me by surprise. I was expecting to run up Baker Street by Baker Street Yoga but instead we took a left onto Baker Street. One of friends who ran the 5k in the past called out "change of route." I later learned that the route I had practiced on was an old one and that the race organizers had altered it this year.  Note to self: check the race map prior to running!

Another shocker was that, despite the presence of the Maplewood Police along the route, the streets were not closed to traffic. Cars were still driving along the route. I was expecting to compete with other runners but certainly not with mini-vans or SUVs. At one point, an elderly man tried to make a right hand turn as I was running. He stopped for the large group ahead of me but I slowed down since I didn't think he saw me. As I jogged in place and attempted to make eye contact, I was happy that I had stopped running since he looked very surprised to see me waiting for him to turn.

Ultimately, I didn't win any trophies. I clocked in at 31:44 minutes, which was an improvement on my pr of 35:08. I still found the race very challenging. Will I run another 5k? I do have my eye on the October Maplewood in Motion 5k organized by the Maplewood Lions and I would like to run a 10k, as I've heard they are more "fun to run."

Stay tuned. I'm too sore right now to make any decisions.